Detection of inter-port faults in multi-port static RAMs

This paper deals with testing of inter-port faults in multi-port static random access memories (SRAMs). An inter-port fault is caused by a short between word/bit lines of different ports in a multi-port SRAM. By considering different implementations of the SRAM and its layout, an approach with achieves 100% coverage of fault detection, is proposed. The two-step approach is based on two novel algorithms: MMCA (Modified March C Algorithm) and WIPD (Write Inter-Port Detection). It is shown that inter-port fault detection is a combinatorial problem; hence, MMCA and WIPD must be executed a multiple number of times depending on the types, number of ports and line arrangement in the layout.